VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to ensure that roads in the State are constructed and maintained with the high quality standards.
He emphasised the need to fast-track all ongoing road projects, and ensure that they are completed within specified deadlines. Naidu made it clear that every road project should have a set deadline, and be completed on time, especially before the onset of the monsoon.
Andhra Pradesh’s 8,744 km of State and National Highways should set a benchmark at the national level in terms of quality standards and maintenance, he said. Additionally, he instructed officials to develop 2,683 km of completely damaged roads in the State.
The Chief Minister held a review meeting with the Roads & Buildings (R&B) Department officials at the State Secretariat on Thursday, and issued guidelines on several key aspects. He suggested that the R&B Department fill the 304 vacant Assistant Engineer posts. The officials informed the Chief Minister that 97% of works taken up at a cost of Rs 860 crore to make 20,060 km of roads pothole-free have been completed, and the remaining works will be finished by the end of this month. In all, 146 road projects spanning 3,510 km, and worth Rs 78,295 crore are underway.
In the last financial year, 22 projects covering 546 km, and costing Rs 11,682 crore were completed. For 2025-26, 46 projects covering 1,186 km, and costing Rs 47,788 crore are to be executed under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, NHAI and R&B, they added.
CM directs civil supplies officials to streamline PDS
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials of the Civil Supplies Department to reorganise the entire public distribution system to ensure there are no shortcomings or irregularities in the distribution of ration goods, implementation of the Deepam 2.0 scheme, and procurement of paddy.
He stressed that services must be delivered in a manner that ensures complete satisfaction for the people. He also instructed officials to prevent any incidents of recycling ration rice.
He noted that there are 79,173 individuals whose names are registered on rice cards but not reflected in the GSWAS database - their details must be immediately reviewed and rectified.
Further, the Chief Minister advised that from May 15, services related to rice cards should be made available under “Mana Mitra” via WhatsApp Governance.
Currently, the State has 1,46,21,223 rice cards, covering 4,24,59,028 people. Of these, only 3.94 crore people have completed the eKYC process so far. Around 23 lakh people still need to complete it. Children aged 0 to 5 years and elderly citizens above 80 years have been exempted from eKYC.
The Central Government has mandated that eKYC for all eligible beneficiaries in the State must be completed by June 30. Civil Supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar and department officials participated in the review meeting.